Method of manufacturing hooded garments



Nov. 26, 1963 w. w. ARTZT 3,111,577

7 METHOD OF MANUFACTURING HOODED GARMENTS Filed June 19, 1961 5 3 IN VEN TOR.

7;; fla m 4M WALTER AF mg. 10. & WM

3,111,677 METHOD OF MANUFACTURING HQQDED GARMENTS William Walter Artzt,116 E. 68th St, New York, N-Y. Filed June 19, 1961, fier. No. 117,833 2Claims. (Cl. 2--84) This invention relates generally to textile articlesand methods of manufacturing the same.

It is an object of this invention to provide one-piece textile articleshaving double-thicknesses or layers of a knitted fabric consisting of astretch Nylon base and uneven loops of cotton or other absorbent yarnprojecting from its face to present a shaggy appearance and effectivemoisture absorbing characteristics.

Another object is to provide one-piece textile articles of the describedcharacter useable as a bath towel, particularly for infants, or as acape, mattress cover or laundry bag.

Still another object is to provide a method of producing one-piece,multi-use textile article-s of the described character from a flattenedtube of textile fabric in a manner to avoid any waste whatsoever of thefabric.

A further object is to provide a hooded bath towel formed of doublethicknesses or layers of a pile or terry cloth fabric of the describedcharacter, and wherein the stitched or sewed seams of the article,particularly in the portion thereof forming the hood, are hidden ordisposed between the layers of fabric so as to avoid the appearance ofrough edges that might cause irritation when the hooded bath towel isused on infants.

In accordance with an aspect of this invention, hooded bath towels,capes, or sleeping bags, or the like are formed from blanks cut from aflattened tube of a knitted looped pile or terry cloth fabric having abase of stretch Nylon yarn appearing at the inside of the tube andcotton or other absorbent loops extending from the base at the outersurface of the tube. Each blank consists of a generally rectangular bodyportion in which the double thicknesses or layers of fabric are joinedtogether along the opposite side edges, and a hood defining portionextending centrally from one end of the body portion. The hood is formedby diagonally fol-ding over and sewing together corner areas of the hooddefining portion, while the remaining free edges of the two layers offabric in the hood defining portion and along the adjacent end of thebody defining portion are also sewed together. As the flattened tubecomes from the knitting machine, the Nylon yarn is on the inside and thepile fabric is on the outside of the tube. After a blank is cut from thetube, it is inverted or turned inside out and sewed as above mentionedand is then again inverted so that the sewed seams and the Nylon base ofthe fabric layers are at the inside, that is, between the two layers offabric, and the cotton or other absorbent loops appear at the outerfaces or surfaces of both layers of fabric.

The blanks for forming hooded bath towels, capes or the like inaccordance with the invention may be cut from a flattened tube of fabricwith the hood defining portions of the several blanks extending in thesame direction. In that case, the material of the flattened tube at theopposite sides of each hood defining portion of a blank may beconveniently formed into a wash cloth and a bib, respectively, intendedfor sale, as a set, with the hooded bath towel, thereby to avoid anywaste whatsoever of the material of the flattened tube.

However, in accordance with a preferred method embodying this invention,the blanks are derived from the flattened tube of fabric by cutting thelatter along first and second, alternately arranged lines extendingthereacross, with each first line being substantially straight and eachsecond line having an offset central portion,

391 E 17%?7 Patented Nov. 26, 1963 so that the portion of the cut tubebetween each second line and an adjacent straight first line consists ofa generally rectangular body defining portion having a hood definingportion extending centrally from one end thereof, while the portion ofthe tube between said second line and the other adjacent first lineconsists of a generally rectangular body defining portion and two hooddefining portions extending from an end edge of the body definingportion at the opposite sides of the latter and adapted to occupy thosespaces on the flattened tube at the opposite sides of the central hooddefining portion of the first mentioned portion of the cut tube. Thus,all of the material of the flattened tube is included in said outportions thereof, and each portion having two hood defining portions,when opened and refolded along the longitudinal medial line of the bodydefining portions of the two layers of fabric thereof is identical witheach portion originally having a single hood defining portion locatedcentrally at one end.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of the invention,will be apparent in the following detailed description of illustrativeembodiments thereof which is to be read in connection with theaccompanying drawings forming a part hereof, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a flattened tube of fabric and illustrating themanner in which the same is cut to provide blanks for forming hoodedbath towels, capes or the like in accordance with a preferred methodembodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one of the blanks provided by cutting theflattened tube as indicated in FIG. 1

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2, but showing the articleafter a further stage in the manufacture thereof;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a completed textile article formed from theblank of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a flattened tube of textile "fabric, similar tothat in FIG. 1, but illustrating another pattern of lines along whichsuch flattened tube can be cut to provide blanks for producing thetextile article of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are plan views of additional textile articles formed fromthe material of the flattened tube in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a flattened tube of textile fabric andillustrating the manner in which the same may be cut to provide blankssimilar to that in 'FIG. 2, but with each rblank having a modifiedconfiguration;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3, but showing thecorresponding inter-mediate stage of manufacture of a cape-like garmentfrom the blank cut in accordance with FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a plan view similar to that of FIG. 4, but showing acape-like garment or article produced from the folded and sewed blank ofFIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating the cape-like garment orarticle of FIG. 10 as the same appears when worn; and

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line 1212 on FIG. 4 andshowing the pile or terry cloth fabric of the type from which textilearticles are to be formed in accordance with this invention.

Referring to the drawings in detail and initially to FIG. 2 thereof, itwill be seen that a blank 10' for forming a textile article inaccordance with the present invention includes two superposed layers 12and 14 of textile fabric integrally joined together along the oppositeside or longitudinal edges 16 of a generally rectangular body definingportion 18. A relatively smaller, also generally rectangular hooddefining portion 20 extends centrally from one end edge of body definingportion 18. The width w of hood defining portion 20 is preferablyapproximately one-half the width W of body defining portion 18 for reasons that will appear hereinafter.

The two superposed layers 12 and 14 of blank 10 are free of each otheralong the opposite end edges 28 and 3b of body defining port-ion =18 andalong the end edge 24 and side edges 26 of hood defining portion 29. Inmanufacturing an article from the blank if corner areas of hood definingportion 20 are folded along fold lines 22 (FIG. 2) which diverge fromthe center of end edge 24, each at approximately 45 degrees to end edge24 so that the two halves of end edge 24 meet along the center of thehood defining portion, as at 24a on FIG. 3, while side edges 26 of hooddefining portion 20- are brought into laterally extending alignedrelationship, as at 26a on FIG. 3. The blank is. then inverted or turnedinside out and halves of the end edge 24 of the hood defining portionmeeting at 24a are stitched together, and the two superposed layers offabric are also stitched together at the free edges 26a thereofextending along the hood defining portion 20a of the folded blank andalso along the contiguous end edge 28:: of the body defining portion13a, preferably with an overcast or blind stitch, as illustrated in FIG.3. Finally, the folded and sewed blank 10a of FIG. 3 is inverted orturned inside out to provide the textile article 1% of FIG. 4 in whichthe stitches forming the central seam 24b of the hood Ztlb and thestitches joining together the two layers 12]) and 14b of fabric alongthe edges 26b of the hood and along the end edge 28b of the body 18b areall disposed internally, that is, between layers 12b and 14b so as toavoid the presence of any rough or bulky edges at the outside of thetextile article 10b.

When the textile article 1012 is to be used as a bath towel or sleepingbag, particularly for infants, the fabric layers thereof are formed of apile or terry cloth fabric, preferably of the type disclosed in myco-pending application for the United States Letters Patent, Serial No.16,810, filed March 22, 1960. As described in detail in thatapplication, such fabric is knitted in tubular form on a standardknitting machine set, in the conventional manner, for the knitting of alooped pile or terry cloth fabric, and is knitted with a base of stretchNylon yarn so as to be capable of stretching in both the transverse andlongitudinal directions, and with uneven loops of cotton or otherabsorbent yarn extending from the base to present a shaggy appearanceand to ensure highly effective absorption of water or other moisture.The described tubular knit looped pile or terry cloth fabric is receivedfrom the knitting machine with the Nylon base at the inside of the tube,and with the loops of cotton or other absorbent yarn extending from theouter surface of the tube. Thus, when such a tube of knitted looped pileor terry cloth fabric is flattened and the blank 10 of FIG. 2 is cuttherefrom, the absorbent loops of the fabric extend from the outersurfaces of the superposed layers 12 and 14. However, to provide blindstitching or seams, the blank is turned inside out and then sewed asabove mentioned. The blank is then folded right side out i.e. with theloop-ed pile or terry cloth L on the outside to provide the article lilbof FIG. 4 with the absorbent loops L of the fabric at the outer orexposed surfaces of the two superposed layer-s 12b and 14b, while therelatively flat Nylon bases B of the layers are at the confrontingsurfaces thereof (FIG. 12).

When the textile article 1% is to be employed exclusively as a bathtowel or sleeping bag, particularly for infants, the edges of the layers12b and 14b along the end 38b of body portion 1812 can be permanentlysecured together preferably by overstitching (not shown). When used as abath towel or sleeping bag, the infant is placed on body 181) of thearticle it? with the head of the infant in hood 20b, and the sides ofbody 18b are wrapped around the infants body while the bottom of body1312 is folded upwardly over the infants feet.

By reason of the highly absorbent character of the looped pile or terrycloth fabric preferably employed in manufacturing the described bathtowel or article 10b the infant wrapped in the latter can be driedmerely by a patting action, thereby avoiding irritation of the infantstender skin. However, if it is desired to dry by a rubbing action, thedouble thicknesses or two layers 12b and 14b of the article 13b makes itpossible for the pile face of the layer 12b in contact with the infantsbody to remain relatively stationary while the Nylon inner orconfronting faces of layers 12b and 14b move relative to each other toexpedite the drying action. The air space between layers 12b and 14balso aids in drying, particularly by reason of the fact that the Nylonyarn forming the base of each of the layers 12b and 14b retains heat.

If desired, the opposite longitudinal or side edges 16b of the body 13bof a bath towel or article 10b may have interengageable or complementaryfastening members 32, for example, Snappers or buttons and button holes,provided at spaced apart locations therealong so that the body 18b canbe held in its closed or wrapped condition around the infants body.

Further, if the layers 12b and 14b are not permanently secured togetheralong the end 3841), the article 1% can then have alternative use as amattress cover or laundry bag. When such alternative use is desired, theedges of layers 12b and 14b along end 39b are bound, as at 34, andprovided with Snappers or other complementary fasteners 35 by which end3% can be releasably closed. Thus, a mattress can be inserted betweenlayers 12b and 14b of the article 19b and retained in the body portion1.811 by closing of the fasteners 36. In this case, the hood Ztlb isfolded under the mattress at the bottom end of the crib. Alternatively,the article ldb can be employed as a laundry bag for diapers or thelike, with the hood Zttb disposed at the lower end of such bag.

in accordance with a preferred method embodying the invention, a numberof blanks identical to that illustrated in FIG. 2 are obtained bycutting a flattened tube 38 of the described tubular knit fabric in themanner illustrated in FIG. 1. More specifically, the double thicknessesor layers of fabric of the flattened tube 38, which are integrallyjoined together at the folded longitudinal or side edges 4%, are outalong a number of spaced apart, alternately arranged straight lines 42and contoured lines 44- extending across the flattened tube. Each line44 disposed bet-ween two lines 42 includes opposite end parts 46, eachextending from a side edge 40 approximately one-quarter of the distanceacross the folded tube, and a central part 43 offset relative to the endpart 46 and extending across approximately one-half the width of thefolded tube with its ends being joined to the inner ends of par-ts 46 byintermediate parts 5i extending in the longitudinal direction of thetube. Further, the successive lines 42 and 4-4 are spaced apart so thatthe distance L from the central part 48 of each contoured line 44 to oneof the adjacent straight lines 42 is substantially equal to the distanceL from the end parts 46 of the same line 44 to the other adjacentstraight line 4 2.

It Will be apparent that each portion 52 of flattened tube 38 between acontoured line 44 and the adjacent straight line 42 which is furthestremoved from the central part 43 of line 4 has a configuration similarto that of the blank 19 described previously in connection with PEG. 2,while the portion 54 of the flattened tube 3 3 at the other side of theline 44, that is, between the latter and the adjacent straight line 42which is relatively close to the central part 48 of line at, has a bodydefining portion 56 and two hood defining portions 58 each confined byparts 46 and 5d of the line 44 and by the adjacent folded side edge 4%]of the flattened tube.

After flattened tube 38 has been out along the alternately arrangedlines 42. and 44, as indicated in FIG. 1, each of the portions 54 thusderived from the flattened tube 33 is opened and refolded about thelongitudinal medial lines 6% of the two layers of the tube. Thelongitudinal medial lines of of each refolded tube portion 54 form thefolded side edges of the refolded blank, as at 16 on FIG. 2, while thehood defining portions 58 are then superposed on each other in therefolded blank to correspond to the hood defining portion 261 of FIG. 2.Thus, the tube 38, when out along the lines indicated on FIG. 1, yieldsa plurality of portions 52 immediately corresponding to the blank ofFIG. 2 and also a plurality of portions 54 which can be refolded so asto be also identical with the blank it It is of importance to note thatthe blanks formed from portions 52 and 54 cut from the flattened tube 38in the manner indicated above are constituted by all the material of theflattened tube, thereby to avoid any waste whatsoever. Accordingly, thepreferred method embodying the invention provides the most efficient andeconomical utilization of the knitted starting material.

Referring now to FIG. 5, it will be seen that a plurality of blankshaving the configuration shown in FIG. 2 may also be obtained from aflattened tube 62 of the described knitted fabric by cutting the tube 62along a plurality of spaced apart straight lines 64 extending laterallyacross the tube, and further cutting the tube along short lines 66parallel to each line 64 and extending from the folded side orlongitudinal edges of the flattened tube 62 approximately one-quarteracross the width thereof and along lines 68 extending in thelongitudinal direction of the tube from the inner ends of the lines 66to the adjacent line 64.

Cutting of the flattened tube 62 along the above described linesproduces a plurality of blanks 7!) each corresponding to the blank 1t}illustrated in FIG. 2 and having a body defining portion 72 and a hooddefining portion '74. The material of the flattened tube 62 remaining atthe opposite sides of the hood defining portion 74 of each blank 755, asat '76 and 7 8, respectively, can be unfolded to provide a wash cloth76a (FIG. 6) with bound edges 8%), and a bib 18a (FIG. 7) having threebound edges 82 and a tape 84 sewed along the remaining edge. Thus, eachhooded bath towel or article It?!) (FIG. 4) formed from a blank 70 cutfrom flattened tube 62 in the manner indicated in FIG. 5 can be sold, asa set, with a wash cloth 76a and a bib 78a so that, in this case also,all of the material of the flattened tube is usefully employed.

Although the blank 10 of FIG. 2 has a hood defining portion 2% ofrectangular configuration defined by the central part 43 and theintermediate parts 50 extending at right angles to each other in thecontoured line 44 along which the tube 38 is cut in FIG. 1, it is to benoted that the configuration of the contoured lines along which the tubeis cut can be modified. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8, each contoured line44a corresponding to the line 44 of FIG. 1 includes end parts 46a whichare curved, and an oppositely curved central part 48:: having its endsconnected to the inner ends of the end parts 46a by intermediate parts56a extending generally in the longitudinal direction of the tube 38abut converging slightly in the direction toward the central part 48a.The various parts of each line 44a are shaped and dimensioned so thatthe zones or areas 58a defined between the end parts 46a andintermediate parts 56a and the adjacent folded side edges of theflattened tube are each equal to one-half of the area or zone definedbetween the central part 48a and the intermediate parts 59a connected tothe opposite ends thereof, whereby the section 54a cut from theflattened tube 38a, when opened and refolded about the originallongitudinal medial lines 6011, will correspond exactly to the section52a cut from the tube.

Each section 52a cut from the flattened tube 38a, and each section 54a,when refolded, as described above, constitutes a blank 110 (FIG. 9)generally similar to the blank It) of FIG. 2, with the exception of theshape of the hood forming portion thereof, indicated in broken lines at120. The blank 110 includes two superposed layers 112 and 114 integrallyjoined along the opposite side 6 edges 116 of its body defining portion118, and the hood defining portion 12% extending centrally from one endof portion 118.

As previously described in connection with FIG. 3 of the drawings, theblank of FIG. 9 may be formed into a cape-like garment by folding bothlayers of its hood defining portion 120 so as to bring together thehalves of its end edge 1.24, as at 124a on FIG. 9, whereupon suchmeeting halves of the edge 124 are sewed together, as are the free edgesof the two layers of fabric along the remaining edges 126a of the hooddefining portion and the contiguous end edge 128a of the body definingportion 118. After the described folding and sewing of the blank 110,the latter is inverted or turned inside out so that the stitches at124a, 126a and 123a are disposed internally to provide a neat and smoothappearance to the hood 1243b and to the body 118b of the garment 11%(FIG. 10). The garment 11Gb is completed by a relatively narrow binding130 secured along one longitudinal edge of the body 118b, a relativelywider binding 132 secured along the opposite longitudinal or side edgeof the body, and cooperating fastening means 134-, for example, buttonsand button-holes, as shown, or snap fasteners, provided on the bindings130 and 132 which are intended to overlap at the front of the garment,as in FIG. 11.

In order to provide the desired outwardly flaring configuration to thecape-like garment 110b, the latter is preferably formed of a stretchmaterial, for example, the described textile fabric having a base ofstretch Nylon yarn and a face of cotton yarn loops, and a binding 136 ofrelatively non-stretchable fabric is sewed along the bottom edge of thebody 1181) of the garment while such bottom edge is laterally stretchedas illustrated in FIG. 10.

It will be apparent that cape-like garments when produced from blankscut from a flattened tube, as in FIG. 8, fully utilize the material ofthe flattened tube without any waste whatsoever.

Although illustrative embodiments of the invention have been describedin detail herein with referenec to the accompanying drawings, it is tobe understood that the invention is not limited to those preciseembodiments, and that various changes and modifications may be effectedtherein without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention,except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of producing hooded textile articles comprising flattening atube of textile fabric to provide two superposed layers of fabric joinedtogether at the opposite folded side edges of the flattened tube,cutting both of said layers along a plurality of spaced apart,alternately arranged straight and contoured lines extending across theflattened tube, each of said contoured lines including end partsextending from said folded side edges and a central part offset relativeto said end parts and joined to the latter 'by parts extendingsubstantially in the longitudinal direction of said tube, the distancebetween said central part of each contoured line and one of the adjacentstraight lines being substantially equal to the distance between saidend parts of the contoured line and the other of said adjacent straightlines so that the portion of the flattened tube between said contouredline and said one adjacent straight line forms a first blank having abody defining portion and a hood defining portion extending centrallyfrom one end thereof, opening the portion of the flattened tube betweensaid contoured line and said other adjacent straight line, refolding theopened portion of the flattened tube about the longitudinal medial linesof said layers of the latter to form a second blank substantially thesame as said first blank, folding over corner areas of said hooddefining portion of each blank to bring halves of the end edge of thelatter into abutment with each other, and sewing together the abuttinghalves of said end edge and said layers along 6 the remaining edges ofsaid hood defining portion and. the adjacent end edge of said bodydefining portion to form from each blank a hooded article of two layersof said fabric which are permanently joined together at least along theedges of the hood, the adjacent end of the body portion and the sides ofthe latter.

2. A method as in claim 1; wherein said textile fabric is a knittedterry cloth having a base forming one surface of said tube and loopedpile at the other surface of said tube; and further comprising the stepof turning inside out the sewed blank so that the sewed seams aredisposed. in the interior between said layers of fabric and said loopedpile appears at the outer surfaces of said layers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS752,033 Clewley Feb. 16, 1904 McDonald July 24,

Norman Oct. 16, Rosenberg Aug. 6,

Perl May 4,

Bonanno Mar. 10,

Barr June 20, Benarny May 18, Breitbart Sept. 21, Nye et al. Nov. 10,Landsberger et a1. May 15,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Nov. 23,

1. A METHOD OF PRODUCING HOODED TEXTILE ARTICLES COMPRISING FLATTENING ATUBE OF TEXTILE FABRIC TO PROVIDE TWO SUPERPOSED LAYERS OF FABRIC JOINEDTOGETHER AT THE OPPOSITE FOLDED SIDE EDGES OF THE FLATTENED TUBE,CUTTING BOTH OF SAID LAYERS ALONG A PLURALITY OF SPACED APART,ALTERNATELY ARRANGED STRAIGHT AND CONTOURED LINES EXTENDING ACROSS THEFLATTENED TUBE, EACH OF SAID CONTOURED LINES INCLUDING END PARTSEXTENDING FROM SAID FOLDED SIDE EDGES AND A CENTRAL PART OFFSET RELATIVETO SAID END PARTS AND JOINED TO THE LATTER BY PARTS EXTENDINGSUBSTANTIALLY IN THE LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION OF SAID TUBE, THE DISTANCEBETWEEN SAID CENTRAL PART OF EACH CONTOURED LINE AND ONE OF THE ADJACENTSTRAIGHT LINES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SAIDEND PARTS OF THE CONTOURED LINE AND THE OTHER OF SAID ADJACENT STRAIGHTLINES SO THAT THE PORTION OF THE FLATTENED TUBE BETWEEN SAID CONTOUREDLINE AND SAID ONE ADJACENT STRAIGHT LINE FORMS A FIRST BLANK HAVING ABODY DEFINING PORTION AND A HOOD DEFINING PORTION EXTENDING CENTRALLYFROM ONE END THEREOF, OPENING THE PORTION OF THE FLATTENED TUBE BETWEENSAID CONTOURED LINE AND SAID OTHER ADJACENT STRAIGHT LINE, REFOLDING THEOPENED PORTION OF THE FLATTENED TUBE ABOUT THE LONGITUDINAL MEDIAL LINESOF SAID LAYERS OF THE LATTER TO FORM A SECOND BLANK SUBSTANTIALLY THESAME AS SAID FIRST BLANK, FOLDING OVER CORNER AREAS OF SAID HOODDEFINING PORTION OF EACH BLANK TO BRING HALVES OF THE END EDGE OF THELATTER INTO ABUTMENT WITH EACH OTHER, AND SEWING TOGETHER THE ABUTTINGHALVES OF SAID END EDGE AND SAID LAYERS ALONG THE REMAINING EDGES OFSAID HOOD DEFINING PORTION AND THE ADJACENT END EDGE OF SAID BODYDEFINING PORTION TO FORM FROM EACH BLANK A HOODED ARTICLE OF TWO LAYERSOF SAID FABRIC WHICH ARE PERMANENTLY JOINED TOGETHER AT LEAST ALONG THEEDGES OF THE HOOD, THE ADJACENT END OF THE BODY PORTION AND THE SIDES OFTHE LATTER.